Meet Your Tutor - Nicola Brodie

Nicola Brodie

Niki Brodie is our newest animation tutor at Bucks, and is currently teaching animation to our undergraduate students on the Animation and Visual Effects Course.

Niki graduated from Bournemouth University with a First Class degree in Computer Animation and Visualisation, and she also has a diploma in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in London.

After graduation, Niki spent some 20 years in the animation and visual effects industry, working as a 3D character animator at Mill Film and later DNeg on films such as Gladiator, Harry Potter, Batman The Dark Knight and Thor The Dark World.

Niki worked on "Gladiator"

Later, at DNeg, Niki worked as a 3D previsualisation artist. 3D Previs involves working with the director to creatively design shots and sequences for films in the early pre-production stages, often working at London's film studios; Pinewood, Leavesdon and Shepperton. 

We asked Niki a few questions about her career in animation, and what advice she would give to students hoping to break into the industry.

"I studied computer animation at Bournemouth Uni and, shortly after graduating, I started working at Mill Film, working my way up from a junior to a senior animator.

Among the projects I worked on there were Gladiator and Band of Brothers.

After four years I left Mill Film and moved to Double Negative and spent the next twelve years of my career there, where I was promoted to layout supervisor.

My favourite projects that I have worked on would have to Gladiator, The Dark Knight, Iron Man and, more recently, The Mummy and Sherlock Gnomes.

I came Bucks last year as I was looking for a new opportunity - and one that would be more flexible around family life; as the hours spent working in the studios can be very long.

I love being in the class with my students. It is very rewarding to help students that are keen to learn, and see them develop and improve their skills over time.

To succeed in the industry, students should be able to apply themselves to more than one software package. They also need to understand all the ups and downs of this industry, and be able to offer a showreel that successfully shows off their best work. To succeed, be flexible and take all the opportunities that you can."

You can see a full list of Niki's impressive credits at her IMDB page.

For more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days, take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK.